Author: Kim SteeleBlair

We are opening a Local Artisan Market right here on the farm, to work in conjunction with our glass blowing studio!

Just in time for the Holidays! The Market will feature several local artists and fine crafts.

To celebrate the opening of the Local Artisan Market, we will be having Drop-In Glass Blown Ornament Making all day Saturday 12/8 and Sunday 12/9. Stop in and create your glass blown ornament for the holidays.
No appointment/reservation taken, drop in only, first come first served. Ages 12+

Bloom and Bark Farm & Glass Blowing Studio will be opening up the farm for the Van Buren County Scenic Drive Festival. The weekend long festival is Southeast Iowa’s Largest Arts, Crafts and Flea Market Event! This event pulls in thousands of visitors and covers 11 different communities throughout Van Buren County.

Here on Bloom and Bark Farm we will be demonstrating our hand-crafted clay ovens baking delicious artisan breads and Artist Tim Blair will hold glass blowing demonstrations through out the day. Along with all the demonstrations, Kim will have her famous delectable jams for sale along with lots of other Fun Funky Stuff.

We have been cutting trees and stripping bark for the Hobbit House. We have the wall uprights in place and hope to have the roof supports up before the Crawl. Progress is slow but steady on this awesome structure.

This year we will also have Live Music throughout the day here on the farm!

All of these great Business will be set up here at Bloom and Bark Farm.

The Villages Folk School will be set with several artists on hand demonstrating and selling their art. Along with providing information about their classes.

Crane Winery will be sampling their delicious sweet wines.

Hershey’s Honey will be set up and selling all the good stuff their bees produce.

The Calico Press will be demonstrating letter press and have posters, cards and t-shirts available.

Sonja Hoie will have yarn and textiles for sale, created from her flock of Icelandic Sheep which graze on the Thomas Home Farm.

Douglass Blackwolf is one of our amazing local blacksmiths. He will be set up and demonstrating this ancient art. He will also have some of his forged pieces available for sale.

Mrs. Mercantile (aka Alline Anderson) will be selling her amazingly delicious pickles along with her delightful decoupage collage boxes.

You will also have the opportunity to explore all these amazing businesses and farms just down the road: Lengacher’s Greenhouse & Variety Store, Yoder’s Indian Creek Furniture, Richardson’s Point, Koldt Barn, Troy Academy, and Milton Creamery.

The J40 Farm Crawl is a fabulous opportunity to share summer family fun along Iowa’s Historic Hills Scenic Byway and celebrate the rural local businesses and farms that add vibrancy to the Iowa landscape.

Join us for Fun Funky Stuff on the Farm Saturday, October 14, 2017 8am – 5pm

For the first time ever Bloom and Bark will be opening up the farm for the Van Buren County Scenic Drive Festival. The weekend long festival is Southeast Iowa’s Largest Arts, Crafts and Flea Market Event! This event pulls in thousands of visitors and covers 11 different communities throughout Van Buren County.

Here on Bloom and Bark Farm we will be demonstrating our hand-crafted clay ovens baking delicious artisan breads and Artist Tim Blair will hold hourly glass blowing demonstrations. Along with all the demonstrations, Kim will have her famous delectable jams for sale along with lots of other Fun Funky Stuff.

A day filled with food, farm tours, wagon rides, local artist, history, wine tasting, hand crafted furniture, and so much fun for the whole family!

Start the day off with a delicious home cooked breakfast at the Amish School, than wander down the road to explore the 8 different participating farms, businesses, and museum along the route

Here at Bloom and Bark Farm you can explore our gardens and greenhouses, see how a hand-crafted clay oven bakes delicious artisan breads, sample fresh produce and bread with a cold glass of mint water. Tour our new Glass Blowing Studio and watch demonstrations by artist Tim Blair.

We have been cutting trees and stripping bark for the Hobbit House. We have the wall uprights in place and hope to have the roof supports up before the Crawl. Progress is slow but steady on this awesome structure.

The Village Folks School will be set up on Bloom and Bark Farm with several artists on hand demonstrating and selling their art. Along with providing information about their classes.

Crane Winery will be sampling their delicious sweet wines at Bloom and Bark Farm.

You will also have the opportunity to explore Lengacher’s Greenhouse, Yoder’s Indian Creek Furniture, Koldt Barn, Troy Academy, Pittsburg General Store and Milton Creamery.

The J40 Farm Crawl is a fabulous opportunity to share summer family fun along Iowa’s Historic Hills Scenic Byway and celebrate the rural local businesses and farms that add vibrancy to the Iowa landscape.

A day filled with food, farm tours, wagon rides, local artist, history, wine tasting, hand crafted furniture, live music and so much fun for the whole family!

Start the day off with a delicious home cooked breakfast at the Amish School, than wander down the road to explore the 9 different participating farms, businesses, and museum along the route

Here at Bloom and Bark Farm you can explore our gardens and greenhouses, see how a hand-crafted clay oven bakes delicious artisan breads, sample fresh produce and bread with a cold glass of mint water. Tour our new Glass Blowing Studio and watch demonstrations by artist Jim Topic.

We have been cutting trees and stripping bark for the Hobbit House, so you will get too see some progress on what will be an awesome structure.

The Village Folks School will be set up on Bloom and Bark Farm with several artists on hand demonstrating and selling their art. Along with providing information about their classes.

Crane Winery will be tasting their delicious sweet wines and Dang Dog BBQ will be sampling their amazing sauce both a Bloom and Bark Farm.

You will also have the opportunity to explore Lengacher’s Greenhouse, Yoder’s Indian Creek Furniture, Koldt Barn, Troy Academy and Milton Creamery.

The J40 Farm Crawl is a fabulous opportunity to share summer family fun along Iowa’s Historic Hills Scenic Byway and celebrate the rural local businesses and farms that add vibrancy to the Iowa landscape.

This is a recipe I just made up one day while I was staring blurry eyed into my pantry, wondering what was for supper. It is super easy, fills a large crockpot and can be prepared the night before and stored in the refrigerator until you are ready to cook. And if you are in a really big hurry, skip right past the 1st step and just dump all the raw ingredients in the crockpot, put the lid on, set temp on low and walk away for 6 hours. (the photo is of the dump in the pot, skip step one method) Enjoy!

1-2 TB olive oil

1 large sweet onion, chopped

1 green or red bell pepper, chopped

2-3 celery stocks, chopped

4-8 garlic cloves, minced

2 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth

32 oz jar tomato juice

32 oz jars of chopped tomatoes with juice

cups frozen corn

2 TB dried basil

1 ½ TB dried oregano

2 TB ground cumin

½ TB mustard powder

¾ teaspoon cayenne, or to taste

1/4 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste

1/4 tsp Black pepper, freshly ground, or to taste

1/8 teaspoon Tabasco sauce, or to taste

1/4 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt (optional)

Tortilla chips (optional)

Crockpot Method:

In a skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and sauté for 2 minutes, add green pepper, corn, garlic and celery and sauté for 3-4 minutes or until all the vegetables have slightly blackened.

A day filled with food, farm tours, wagon rides, local artist, history, wine tasting, hand crafted furniture, live music and so much fun for the whole family!

Start the day off with a delicious home cooked breakfast at the Amish School, than wander down the road to explore the 9 different participating farms, businesses, and museum along the route.

At Pittsburg General Store you will meet and observe artist Bob Norman, Iowa’s only formally train oil painting conservator.

At Bloom and Bark Farm you can explore our gardens and greenhouses, see how a hand-crafted clay oven bakes delicious artisan breads, sample fresh produce and bread with a cold glass of mint water. Tour our new Glass Blowing Studio and watch demonstrations by artist Jim Topic. Then check out the progress we have made with our hand built Hobbit House. Live music from 2pm-4pm by the Fairtown Ramblers.

The Village Folks School will be set up on Bloom and Bark Farm with several artists on hand demonstrating and selling their art. Along with providing information about their classes.

Crane Winery will be tasting their delicious sweet wines and Dang Dag BBQ will be sampling their amazing sauce both a Bloom and Bark Farm.

At Lengacher’s Greenhouse horse-drawn wagon rides will take you through out their farm, where you will see bounties of beautiful mums and fresh produce.

Amish School will be serving a delicious homemade breakfast complete with biscuits & gravy and pancakes and sausage. Free will donations will be accepted.

Yoder’s Indian Creek Furniture will have their show room full of beautiful hand-crafted hardwood furniture along with discounts on poly furniture. In addition to all the eye catching beauty, your taste buds will be enticed with free homemade ice cream.

The Troy Academy, the first institution of higher education west of the Mississippi, will be open for guided tours.

Milton Creamery will be open all day sampling their award winning cheese made from the milk of local Amish farms.

The J40 Farm Crawl is a fabulous opportunity to share summer family fun along Iowa’s Historic Hills Scenic Byway and celebrate the rural local businesses and farms that add vibrancy to the Iowa landscape.

Start the day off with a delicious home cooked breakfast at the Amish School, than wander down the road to explore. At Bloom and Bark Farm you can explore our gardens and greenhouses, see how a hand-crafted clay oven bakes delicious artisan breads, sample fresh produce and bread with a cold glass of mint water. Then check out the progress we have made with our hand built Hobbit House. A day filled with food, farm tours, wagon rides, local artist, history, wine tasting, hand crafted furniture and so much fun for the whole family!

We went to a class on catching and maintaining bees from the wild. Here we are building and placing swarm traps up in the trees. Once caught we will be using the horizontalhive method for managing our hives. We will keep you updated on our progress. Exciting!!